The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt

[Slick_cat]

(Submitted this as a letter to the TipIt Editors 2-4 days ago)

 

 

 

Almost everyone that plays RuneScape dislikes bots. Some of us report them all the time, others whenever a particular bot annoys them and the rest either donÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t know what a bot looks or have given up on reporting. Now, Jagex claims that they donÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t like bots either and that their randoms are an effective at catching bots.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that Jagex has let the situation, all the while claiming that it had everything under control. Just tonight, I saw no less than 20 odd bots and sweat-shoppers at the eastern location of green dragons between 20-25 wildy on one of my usual worlds. Yes folks: 20 out of a maximum of 2000 on that server alone. Given that it is the wee hours of the morning here in Canada and its more like 20 out of 400 ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹ÃâpersonsÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ on the server. This illustrates part of the problem: Jagex has ignored it long enough that the bot-pimps that use to run strings of bots can now afford to pay guys over in Asia money to play RuneScape day in and day out collecting RuneScape resources that are sold for RuneScape gold which is then sold for real world money. You can bet your party hat that these sweat-shoppers can pass randoms without blinking. Moreover, I have a sneaking suspicion that many of their bots beep to alert a human employee that a random needs to be seen to as well. Basically, the situation is troublesome because Jagex ignored the bots long enough to allow the bot-pimps to hire sweat-shoppers, thereby blurring the line between bot and sweat-shopper.

 

 

 

Games are supposed to be fun and IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢m a cynical bastard so allow me to propose a cynical game that everyone who likes RuneScape can and should play: The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt. First, IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ll tell you how to play and then IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ll tell you about the results of my current round of The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt.

 

 

 

To play, you need to report 10-15 bots with at least 1 stat visible in hiscores. Be sure to take a screenshot of you and the bot/sweat-shopper.

 

 

 

Next, look up the bot on HiScores and Cut & Paste their visible stats and experience to a file on your computer, or post them to an article on a fansiteÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s forums or to your own blog. This way, you and others will be able to figure out how much experience the bot/sweat-shopper has earned since you reported it. Furthermore, a certain company that likes to sweep stuff under the carpet wonÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t be able to claim that the account in question never existed.

 

 

 

Once you have a roster of 10-15 bots youÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢re done and ready to play. You can check every 2-3 days to see if Jagex has followed up on your Macroing report and banned the bot/sweat-shopper. Every week or so, you can look up all the surviving bots on hiscores and figure out how much experience theyÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ve gained that week.

 

 

 

Now comes the ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹ÃâfunÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ part: figuring out how much RuneScape coin those bots earned!

 

 

 

You look up how much experience the bots currently have and subtract the experience they had when you reported them to figure out how much they have gained. You assume that they have continued to do the activities they were doing when you reported them.

 

For collector or skiller bots, you take the amount of experience gained and divide by the value of the unit they were collecting (100k xp divided by the 110 that each shark is worth).

 

 

 

For combat bots, you take the Attack, Strength, Defence and Ranged increases and divide by 3 first, then by the hitpoints of the creature they were harvesting. If they increased in Prayer, assume that they buried the bones in the field and subtract those bones from the profits they made.

 

 

 

Now that you know how many of each item type the bots

 

made or collected, you can look up the values of those items on the official forums price list or a price list maintained by your favourite fansite. Tally up the values. Keeping checking ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹ÃâyourÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ bots every two or three days to see if one of them finally got banned. Once a week or so, calculate how much your string of bots has earned.

 

 

 

Trust me youÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ll be cursing Jagex by the second week.

 

 

 

Now that IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ve told you how to play, let me tell you about ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹ÃâmyÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ first string of bots, anonymized because Tip.It has a no names policy, but IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢d be happy to provide the Usernames on demand. Before I do, let me mention that this past summer I got to talk a little bit with a group of Chinese sweat-shoppers (one of whom spoke a bit of English and wanted to practice it) that were running about 8 level 126s collecting green dragon hides and dragon bones at eastern 20-25 green dragons. There would be two of the 126 accounts logged in and grinding at any given moment. I reported them all, even though they stopped killing me for killing their bots after the second day. It took Jagex about two weeks to ban all of those 126 accounts.

 

 

 

More recently, I had a Psychology class wherein certain assignments had to be done via Excel ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ which naturally made me think of collecting information on reported bots in an Excel Spreadsheet. I doubt youÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ll like what IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ve found.

 

 

 

I reported 15 bots, and have screenies for 14 of them. One account, an essence miner seems to be dormant (maybe they forgot its password?). One green dragon hunter disappeared off of hiscores (was banned) after 1 day 18 hours 37 minutes. A mage tree woodcutter bot that I spotted North of the Dueling Arena was banned after 2 days 18 hours 2 minutes. The other twelve bots are still going.

 

 

 

Worker number one I spotted spinning bowstrings at Lumbridge castle. HeÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s reached 22 days without a ban. I checked 3 days ago and heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢d gained enough crafting xp that I reckon that heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢d made 194k bowstrings. At 165 coins each (prices from SwiftSwitch) thatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s a whopping 32 MILLION coins.

 

 

 

Worker number two is a bot that ranges blue dragons at Taverly dungeon. HeÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s gone 20 days without a ban. When I checked, heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢d only gained enough prayer xp to bury 12 dragon bones. That leaves 2022 blue hides at 1800 each plus 2010 dragon bones at 1550 each for a total of 6,755,100 coins.

 

 

 

Worker number three was a budding combat bot. His stats only got high enough to melee green dragons 3 days ago, so IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ll consider him ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâearning his keepÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ from that point on. HeÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s gone 19 days unbanned.

 

 

 

Worker number four has cut about 28k yews (at 370 each) worth 10,291,550 coins so far. 18 days unbanned.

 

 

 

Worker number five is also bowstring spinner and managed to 16k bowstrings as of 3 days ago. ThatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s a modest 2,644,290 coins. More recently, theyÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ve started runecrafting as well. 17 days unbanned.

 

 

 

Worker number six is another green dragon hunter, but heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s managed to bury at least 395 dragon bones. This leaves 13156 green hides at 1500 each and 12761 dragon bones at 1550 each for an impressive total of 39,513,550 coins. 16 days unbanned.

 

 

 

Worker number seven is a veritable godling amongst bots and sweat-shoppers. He has 99 fishing by a long shot (heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s in the top 100 fishers)! HeÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s managed 6400 sharks at last check, at 800 a piece thatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s a measly 5,120,000 coins. 13 days unbanned

 

 

 

Worker number eight has cut 7200 yews which at 370 a log is 2,668,070 coins. Also 13 days unbanned.

 

 

 

Worker number nine is a fishing-bot, one of numerous ones at the Fishing Guild. HeÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s managed 9796 sharks at 800 each makes 7,837,454 coins. 13 days unbanned.

 

 

 

Worker number ten is another fishing-bot that ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹ÃâpeoplesÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ the Fishing Guild. HeÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s managed 6025 sharks, which at 800 a shark is 4,820,727 coins.

 

 

 

Worker number eleven is another ranger-bot working the blue dragons at Taverly (although IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ve seen plenty at Ogre Enclave too). He is careful not to bury any bones and thus managed 4357 blue hides at 1800 a hide and 4357 dragon bones at 1550 a bone, netting his bot-pimp 14,595,950.

 

 

 

Lastly, worker number twelve runs cosmics in Zanaris. I had to refer to TipItÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s XP Tables to figure out that he made 7133 cosmics to get to level 59 which grants double cosmics. Thereafter, he made 72,095 more cosmics. Since they are around 180 a rune, thatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâs 14,261,040 coins.

 

 

 

Nifty, huh? So how much did these twelve bots earn in the 163 working days since I reported them up till 3 days ago when I estimated their earnings?

 

 

 

Drum roll please!

 

 

 

140,507,731 coins!

 

 

 

Now go look up how much a party hat or a Godsword is. Are you mad at Jagex yet? I sure am. A quick Google search suggest that our 140.5M RuneScape coins is $3.20 per Million (Canadian dollar is roughly at par with US dollar these days). Thus these illicit profits netted $449.60 US/CDN to the bot-pimps/sweatshop owners.

 

 

 

And still Jagex claims to have the situation under controlÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ

 

 

 

So what can players do?

 

 

 

DonÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t bother ranting on the official forums, Jagex will merely delete or hide your thread and give you a black mark. Instead, play The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt and publicly blog about it. Eventually a media person writing about RuneScape will notice and write about it. Hopefully that will shame Jagex into taking effective action against bots and sweat-shoppers. Maybe if we are really lucky, Jagex will take action quickly to get rid of the bots before the Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt gets noticed by the media. One can only hope.

 

 

 

EDIT: forums mangled layout a bit, fixed it.

 

ALSO: in the past 4-5 days, only one of the bots has been banned, the rest are at 3 weeks+ unbanned

 

 

 

Jagex = 4 letter word

[Smapla]

bot-pimps

 

 

 

:uhh:

[Moonshadow]

That is insane that is only 15 bots too.

[JPkay143]

That is insane that is only 15 bots too.

 

 

 

:)

 

:uhh:

[dspider0]

I tried to show you guys how macros worked about 8 months ago, never released a macro or anything, never said any names or gave any links, just told you how some of the macros worked and what kinds are available and maybe how to stop them.

 

 

 

I got 3 day banned for no apparent reason, the reason they gave didn't make any sense, so I assumed they didn't read the full thread.

 

 

 

Since then ive never talked about stopping bots, i dont think the mods like it.

[Italian5kamikaze]

I tried to show you guys how macros worked about 8 months ago, never released a macro or anything, never said any names or gave any links, just told you how some of the macros worked and what kinds are available and maybe how to stop them.

 

 

 

I got 3 day banned for no apparent reason, the reason they gave didn't make any sense, so I assumed they didn't read the full thread.

 

 

 

Since then ive never talked about stopping bots, i dont think the mods like it.

 

 

 

Thats why your able to appeal bans.

 

 

 

Maybe they thought you were talking about how you made your own bot?

[casthewiz]

Oh boys, I want to hunt bots!

 

 

 

Maybe I'll see if i can get some banned...

 

 

 

If I do, I'll post my results here.

[ktmcf121]

this is what i still don't understand about all this:

 

 

 

12 bots combined made ONLY 450 bucks in 163 days? that's terrible money. you can make much more than that working at mcdonalds...

 

 

 

one person would need to be running thousands of bots in order to make any amount of money. just get a freaking job.

 

 

 

sorry if i misread that, but i'm pretty sure that's what it was supposed to mean.

[o_knames]

Ummm, I guess I'll just take your word that they were actually bots. From your description, any of those "bots" is indistinguishable from my character.

 

 

 

Not saying you're definitely wrong. You certainly haven't convinced me, though.

[Smapla]

this is what i still don't understand about all this:

 

 

 

12 bots combined made ONLY 450 bucks in 163 days? that's terrible money. you can make much more than that working at mcdonalds...

 

 

 

one person would need to be running thousands of bots in order to make any amount of money. just get a freaking job.

 

 

 

sorry if i misread that, but i'm pretty sure that's what it was supposed to mean.

 

 

 

Yes but ideally you'd get one person to run perhaps a few dozen bots. It really all depends on how good their bot-software is, at handling any given event (i am not specifically referring to random events). If the bots can take care of themselves better, more can be run by one master, thus more money can be made

 

 

 

 

 

and remember... people in poor countries will work for quite a bit less than we're used to. And it's a relatively safe job, monitoring computers.

[Slick_cat]

this is what i still don't understand about all this:

 

 

 

12 bots combined made ONLY 450 bucks in 163 days? that's terrible money. you can make much more than that working at mcdonalds...

 

 

 

one person would need to be running thousands of bots in order to make any amount of money. just get a freaking job.

 

 

 

sorry if i misread that, but i'm pretty sure that's what it was supposed to mean.

 

 

 

$450 dollars in 163 working days; means they were all working for 13-18 days in that sample

 

 

 

eg. I get up and go to work, that's one working day, you get up and go to work, that's a second working day.

 

 

 

Its actually very good money, especially since Jagex allows you to play multiple instances of RS on the same computer, just different worlds.

 

 

 

One computer could have a bot on EVERY world.

 

 

 

Now, since bot-pimps (most of them are in China, go figure this is good money for the owner of the operation and probably funner than making plastic HappyMeal toys for the workers) have been allowed by Jagex to make deep inroads - I reckon a typical outfit looks like your typical Asian internet cafe: 12-60 computers, all of them running bots, with maybe one human worker per comp to do the randoms for bots. Possibly one worker assigned to passing certain quests for bot after bot.

 

 

 

Probably a dozen guys working as green dragon hunters.

 

 

 

Speaking of which, go kill dragon hunters in the wildy, some of them are bots outright, some of them are Asian sweatshoppers (makes no difference, both damage the game, difference is what they do when you try to pk them).

 

 

 

For bonus points, time how long it takes their 'Security' to show up.

 

 

 

These days they don't seem to care as much and it could take 8-12 bots/sweatshoppers killed before they send someone with a high level account after you.

[Slick_cat]

Ummm, I guess I'll just take your word that they were actually bots. From your description, any of those "bots" is indistinguishable from my character.

 

 

 

Not saying you're definitely wrong. You certainly haven't convinced me, though.

 

 

 

Maybe you should *coughs* look for a link *coughs* to a RS-themed community *coughs* on *coughs* LiveJournal where *coughs* the screenshots and data are posted publically?

 

 

 

Googling *coughs* "The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt" and *coughs* taking the LiveJournal hit would probably work as well ;)

[dspider0]

Ummm, I guess I'll just take your word that they were actually bots. From your description, any of those "bots" is indistinguishable from my character.

 

 

 

Not saying you're definitely wrong. You certainly haven't convinced me, though.

 

 

 

Maybe you should *coughs* look for a link *coughs* to a RS-themed community *coughs* on *coughs* LiveJournal where *coughs* the screenshots and data are posted publically?

 

 

 

Googling *coughs* "The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt" and *coughs* taking the LiveJournal hit would probably work as well ;)

 

 

 

omg are you ok? are you choking?!??! :ohnoes:

[Smapla]

Ummm, I guess I'll just take your word that they were actually bots. From your description, any of those "bots" is indistinguishable from my character.

 

 

 

Not saying you're definitely wrong. You certainly haven't convinced me, though.

 

 

 

Maybe you should *coughs* look for a link *coughs* to a RS-themed community *coughs* on *coughs* LiveJournal where *coughs* the screenshots and data are posted publically?

 

 

 

Googling *coughs* "The Great RuneScape Bot-Hunt" and *coughs* taking the LiveJournal hit would probably work as well ;)

 

 

 

omg are you ok? are you choking?!??! :ohnoes:

 

 

 

The coughing was a guise for his intent to refer you to questionable materials for which he was afraid he would be banned for [again].

[ddaanniiellh]

Worker number six is another green dragon hunter, but heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s managed to bury at least 395 dragon bones. This leaves 13156 green hides at 1500 each and 12761 dragon bones at 1550 each for an impressive total of 39,513,550 coins. 16 days unbanned.

 

I think this is the only number up there that may be inaccurate. Because with this, you have to take into account the number of deaths they have and the amount of dhides they may have lost to the ppl out there pking them.

 

 

 

However, its amazing to see this much RS money being funneled to the autoers =/

 

We need more done about this!

 

~Ddaanniielh

[NJE03]

That is some interesting data you have gathered there. Really makes one think...

 

 

 

Obviously Jagex methods are not as effective as I wish they were.

[Dexek]

Slick_Cat wrote:

 

Its actually very good money, especially since Jagex allows you to play multiple instances of RS on the same computer, just different worlds.

 

 

 

One computer could have a bot on EVERY world.

 

 

 

I thought that was considered Multi-logging. Correct me if I am wrong. :)

[Giordano]

140M for 15 autoers? Jesus Christ, thats a lot even for 163 days for these low class people. Mutliply by thousands of autoers the millions become billions... :shock:

 

 

 

I'm going to try to do this with mining autoers in the Mining Guild since I'm spending most of my time there.

[swordwarior]

i hate bots as much as the next person, but i think jagex made it clear that banning them and keeping up with their account making is impossible. thats why they're working on ways to stop them from transferring gp. sending reports does little help as they can just make new accounts. posting this sort of thing is only going to rush jagex into updates not well thought out. they have a plan, and i believe they started implementing it last month...

[Italian5kamikaze]

 

Its actually very good money, especially since Jagex allows you to play multiple instances of RS on the same computer, just different worlds.

 

 

 

One computer could have a bot on EVERY world.

 

 

 

 

 

Youd have to have a freaken good computer to be able to do that, my computers not that good but its not bad and laggs like hell if i have two rs login windows up.

[pokexpert]

 

Its actually very good money, especially since Jagex allows you to play multiple instances of RS on the same computer, just different worlds.

 

 

 

One computer could have a bot on EVERY world.

 

 

 

I thought that was considered Multi-logging. Correct me if I am wrong. :)

 

Multi-logging is contact between 2 accounts that you own. So no it's not multi-logging.

[Slick_cat]

Worker number six is another green dragon hunter, but heÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s managed to bury at least 395 dragon bones. This leaves 13156 green hides at 1500 each and 12761 dragon bones at 1550 each for an impressive total of 39,513,550 coins. 16 days unbanned.

 

I think this is the only number up there that may be inaccurate. Because with this, you have to take into account the number of deaths they have and the amount of dhides they may have lost to the ppl out there pking them.

 

 

 

However, its amazing to see this much RS money being funneled to the autoers =/

 

We need more done about this!

 

~Ddaanniielh

 

 

 

Good point, but I don't see a way to estimate that, so consider mine to be a best case scenario estimate for their RS coin earnings.

 

 

 

The only thing I can tell you is what happens when you do PK them:

 

 

 

1.) a bot will come back repeatedly as if nothing had happened. Eventually it might get moved to a nearby world (if you're on a Canadian world, which I usually am, it will often get moved to another Canadian world - not sure why this is).

 

2.) a sweatshopper will potentially come back and often swear at you in Chinese. I think 'cao ni ba' is something rude. ;)

 

Other sweatshoppers will often say "hi" or "no kill pls"; which kind of works, psychologically its a bit harder to attacked someone, even a sweatshopper that is friendly.

 

3.) eventually, after about 10-20 bot kills, you may get their 'security' showing up - 1-3 people about your level. Names similar to the bots. Sometimes they suck and you get free gear, other times...

[Slick_cat]

Slick_Cat wrote:

 

Its actually very good money, especially since Jagex allows you to play multiple instances of RS on the same computer, just different worlds.

 

 

 

One computer could have a bot on EVERY world.

 

 

 

I thought that was considered Multi-logging. Correct me if I am wrong. :)

 

 

 

Last time I checked the rules (about a year ago), it was allowed provided that gear didn't move between accounts.

 

 

 

1.) You can be sure that bot-pimps move things between accounts.

 

 

 

I once met a group of 8 lvl 126s accounts that worked the green dragons at eastern 20-25 wildy in pairs. At first they'd kill or chase me off for killing their bots, but eventually they got tired of it. One of the guys spoke a bit of English and wanted to practice. I found out that he was from Szechuan province.

 

 

 

I tried to buy the hides they were collecting (I'd already reported all 8 of them and was curious how much they were selling them for), but his reply was "sorry I can't".

 

 

 

Then I noticed that there are bots in Al Kharid that do nothing except tan dragon hides. A logical human would grab, 1 needle, some thread, a fire or lava staff, cash and a stack of nature runes. 24 slots for 24 hides = 3x8 = 8 dragonhide bodies each time that you alch in the shop. But these bots just run back to the bank with their loads.

 

 

 

Also, it should be fairly clear that autoflaxers transfer their stuff to autobowstringers, possibly through middlemen. Bots trading with each other is hard to spot in a busy bank, although friends of mine that know what to look for have seen a pair idling in strange out of the way spots: upstairs in houses for instance.

 

 

 

2.) It used to be possible for a human to play two accounts at once. This was about 1.5 years ago. Since then, the increase in randoms has made it unfeasible.

 

 

 

3.) I suspect that part of the reason that Jagex keeps hosing staking and pures is the following:

 

 

 

a.) every kid (I'm 30 incidentally) that I know that PKs transfers stuff back and forth between their main and their PK account. I actually don't care about this, it breaks the letter but not the spirit of rule in my eyes.

 

b.) training a staker or pure account is harder, I suspect that people that make those accounts are more likely to buy RS gold, some kids (& adults) are impatient after all

 

c.) I suspect that Jagex agrees with me about point b

 

 

 

4.) in the past couple of semestres, I've taken a few law classes at university - one of the things that I came away with is that bad laws undermine the legal system as a whole.

 

 

 

a.) World of WarCraft allows you to mail items and cash between your 10 accounts on a given world (for a small fee). Thus they don't have to police and punish people from doing a natural behaviour.

 

b.) I've already mentionned that many kids are moving thing back and forth between main and PKer accounts.

 

c.) if you've consciously broken a rule already it becomes easier to break others, particularily if the rule wasn't well-thought out, is hard to detect and no one that you know gets punished for it

[meili]

I don't have that much free time but it is a very interesting post. I hadn't realized bots made that much gp. Wow and with the GE they can sell materials so fast, too. Since they are members Jagex is getting their $5 a month lol.

 

 

 

I thought I saw some bots spinning flax maybe ill take down their names when I am there next.

[Slick_cat]

i hate bots as much as the next person, but i think jagex made it clear that banning them and keeping up with their account making is impossible. thats why they're working on ways to stop them from transferring gp. sending reports does little help as they can just make new accounts. posting this sort of thing is only going to rush jagex into updates not well thought out. they have a plan, and i believe they started implementing it last month...

 

 

 

Actually, there is a way to 'keep up with their account making', it's just that Jagex is too stubborn/stupid/Jagex to do it.

 

 

 

I've got two out of three blackmarks on the forums (0 black marks in the game itself). Both were for screaming at Jagex for hiding/deleting detailed suggestion that would work. All the honest, intelligent adults that read it agreed that it would work. Dishonest ones figured that it would make transferring stuff between their accounts difficult and stupid ones... well never mind about stupid ones.... -.-

 

 

 

It was raising the cost of making a bot account.

 

 

 

Right now it takes a human about 3 minutes to make a new account. (a friend of mine timed it)

 

 

 

Following mass purges of bots, friends of mine that know what to look for reported going to f2p worlds and watching a bot per second arrive in Lumbridge from Tutorial Island.

 

 

 

The problem is that a bot fresh off of Tutorial Island is already useful as a mule account in that it can trade other accounts as soon as it arrives.

 

 

 

Anyway, the idea in its various incarnations was to restrict player to player trade.

 

 

 

The final, simplest version was to have an extremely variable quest that took 1-2 hours to complete. The ability to trade or drop-trade would be locked behind this quest.

 

 

 

Why would this work?

 

 

 

lets look at an 8 hour shift, shall we?

 

 

 

8 x 60 = 480 minutes

 

divide by 3 = 160 bots made by a human in that 8 hr shift

 

 

 

More to the point, Tutorial Island is easy enough that I suspect that they have macro programs that walk the bot through it.

 

 

 

Now, in the scenario in which Jagex finally smartens the !@#^)+ up and locks the ability to trade behind a 1-2 hours long quest...

 

 

 

4-8 bots made and they have to use their human sweatshop employees to do the quest

 

 

 

If I report a bot (and it currently takes Jagex 3+ weeks to ban a bot) out of 160, the bot-pimps don't really care. For them its a non-event.

 

 

 

If I report a bot out of 4-8, then it finally hurts.

 

 

 

------

 

 

 

It would be interesting to see what they're working on to counter bots...

 

 

 

Who knows. maybe they'll even smarten up and quest-lock trade? :D

 

 

 

I shan't get my hopes up, after all, we're talking about Jagex... :wall: